Danny Gokey has received his first Grammy nomination for his album Rise

Danny Gokey says he was taking his son to school when his phone started blowing up with text messages and phone calls.

Folks were calling to congratulate him.

After all, Danny’s album “Rise” had just been nominated for a Grammy.

And that’s the first time that’s happened for the Season 8 standout from American Idol.

Danny had reached his gym when he realized what all the messages were about.

“I want to cry (with joy) right now, but I’m at the gym, so I’m going to keep it together,” he says in a Facebook message to fans.

After a brief foray into country music following his third-place finish on American Idol, Danny landed where I think most of us thought he would eventually — as a highly successful Christian artist.

“Rise,” released earlier this year,” marked his second Christian album to reach number one on the Billboard albums chart. The single by the same name cracked the Top 5 on Billboard and was number one on the site’s adult contemporary Christian singles chart.

Danny just completed an “Out of the Dark” tour with fellow former Idol standouts Mandisa and Jasmine Murray.

Now he’s on a Christmas tour with Natalie Grant. You can check out the tour dates on his Facebook page.

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